johnatg

Bad luck - a bit of light tapping should get the filter tool off. I don't think you can blame Toyota - they specify a torque setting which people ignore. A torque wrench is a vital part of any tool kit these days (together with enough of a workshop manual to tell you what the correct torque settings are). It does seem to be quite common for the filter housing to be wound up really tight - and they get tighter during the interval between services. Someone on here took the whole housing and mount off, having bought a new one. He did manage to get the housing and mount parted I think - whether either was usable again I don't know. I think you're going to have to go to a garage - or at least get a new filter housing before you do something really drastic!

You can get a 1/2" to 3/8" converter, or won't a socket fit on the filter wrench? Correct torque setting for the filter housing is 18ftlbs - that doesn't feel very tight at all.

Use a long breaker bar. (but don't blame me if that breaks something!) You can get a spray can called 'Shock and Unlock' from Halfords - it's a freezer spray. That might work - it's good on things like stuck caliper bleed screws.

The main body ecu (which controls basic transmission functions) is behind the left hand end of the dashboard. It may or may not be transmission related, and so you really shouldn't start there - you need to get the fault codes read with a Techstream unit. Dealers have that and will just read the codes for a (substantial) price, or quite a few of us have one, but as you're in GL, I should wait for someone there to pipe up. Or look on eBay. Er...£500 is a bit optimistic if it is an ecu or transmission fault - but it's not likely to be. I don't really buy the loose connection theory. The plugs in to the ecu are very secure and you absolutely must not try and dismantle the ecu itself - I had one replaced when my door locking packed up, followed by multiple other failures. I tried to dismantle the old unit - I won't go into details but it had a weird array of interconnected flat metal strip wires which came apart when I opened the box (which was extremely difficult to do) and they were absolutely impossible to put back.

Do you have a laptop? You need Techstream to change settings - that needs a laptop. I don't think that there's a phone version. Look on ebay - but don't say I told you......

There are umpteen ecus on the car - at least 17, but I've pretty much lost count. Without knowing which one they meant it's hard to move on with that. But often 'Check VSC' is caused by some temporary glitch and it will often go away by itself. eg It can flash up if the battery voltage is a bit low for some reason. If it hasn't recurred, don't worry about it. If it does, you need fault codes reading.

Big wheels look better. They don't actually do anything to help performance, but 17" wheels have wider tyres than the old bog standard 16" - that may (or may not) help handling. Bigger wheels give harder ride as the tyre sidewalls are less accommodating. Plenty of people here won't agree with me! (Big wheels were introduced on race and rally cars to enable bigger brakes to be fitted - but on most road cars you just get the bigger wheels and not bigger brakes. But people thought 'Wow! That looks cool! So manufacturers obliged!) Stiffer ("Sports" ?) suspension gives a harder ride and may give slightly better handling at the cost of comfort - not enough to justify having it unless you really want to go ear'oling around and that doesn't suit the IS250 anyway. The ride of IS250s is not 'best in class' at the best of times (but don't let that put you off - it's not at all bad in absolute terms). IMHO

Just search on eBay - quite a few sellers of downloadable ones - probably all the same (ie the official Lexus manual). There's no such thing as a printed book type one these days. They usually cost about £5

We're probably unfair on 220Ds when they are used as they are supposed to be! Yours has averaged 20K miles a year - I guess you mostly do longish journeys, or at least do so regularly. That's what keeps a modern diesel engine in good nick. But many people don't do that - they use the car locally and only do a decent run once a month or so (if that). And they don't drive hard enough (few people do) - but that means the dpf doesn't get regenerated and the EGR clogs up. So many people have been conned into diesels by alleged good minimal fuel consumption and low road tax - then they drive them round town, never get above 50 mph and never do more than 20 miles at a time. And they get problems. Diesels are fine for long distance company car drivers or people with a similar driving regime. They are totally unsuitable for normal commuters, school runs and shoppers. (As the insurance companies put it - social, domestic and pleasure). IMHO. Horses for courses!

Price probably should be about £6K. SE has fewer toys than SE-L but less to go wrong so possibly a better bet at 8 years old. You won't miss stuff you don't get - I prefer non-built-in sat nav as it's easier to update and add speed cameras, points of interest and so on. You don't need the touch screen, rear window blind, etc. Should definitely be £290 road tax.(all autos from that period are - only manuals in higher band). Mine is an SE and it floats my boat!

The thing about Lexus warranty is that you are effectively tied in to (expensive) Lexus servicing. In theory you shouldn't be, but try claiming on warranty if your car has not been serviced by a franchised dealer. So buying from a dealer may well be a good thing to do - at least you can be fairly confident you have a decent car and have warranty protection at least until a service is due. But then you will be faced with a dilemma - pay their prices or probably less than half their charge but (likely) lose the warranty deal. And Lexus servicing is not necessarily a panacea - they still won't clean and lubricate those pesky brake caliper sliders!

Yes, but it worked straight out of the packet. I just plugged the jack into the aux socket and the usb charger plug into a little adapter I have which provides two usb sockets from the power point alongside the aux socket. (It was one of those things you see at petrol station counters - just knew it would come in handy one day!) Edited: Like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MINI-DUAL-USB-TWIN-2-Port-12V-UNIVERSAL-In-Car-Lighter-Socket-Charger-Adapter-/201438114777?hash=item2ee6a5b3d9:g:Rr8AAOSwsB9WB~YB

Thank you! I've always bemoaned the fact that my wife's Mii has Bluetooth but my IS250 doesn't. I looked on eBay for something similar to your linked one and found this - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271936380618?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT - for £6.95. Took me about 30 seconds to get it set up, paired with my phone and working this morning! I'm no great connoisseur of sound quality, but it sounds great to me!

I think they came in with the 2010 facelift.

To be fair, I wasn't, in this instance, casting aspersions on individual parts counter staff as much as trying to imply that as a matter of company policy Toyota are not going to encourage either Toyota or Lexus employees to help parts buyers identify common parts so that they can pay a (lower?) Toyota price. Actually Japanese car companies in general do less parts bin raiding than is common in say, the VW group (VAG) , Ford and GM groups - there are exceptions though (eg the Aygo was a Peugeot 107/Citroen C1 clone and built in the same factory, previous generation Mazda3 had a lot of commonality with the Ford Focus, Mazda2 was a Fiesta clone and Nissan share parts with Renault) But mostly, Japanese design teams do their own thing and I'm sure that there was little cooperation between Avensis and Lexus designers.

There are some shared parts, but there is really not much similarity between IS and Avensis - the Avensis is front wheel drive for a start (IS is rear wheel drive, in case you didn't know! :-) ). Engines (petrol at least - Avensis uses 4 cyl petrol engines, IS250 is V6)), gearboxes and running gear are completely different. So are the interiors. You would need a pretty detailed parts list to identify common parts and dealers (either way) certainly won't help.

Contact Michael in Sydney ('Ashpoint' on this forum) for the Po-40 folding mirror kit. Lots of us here have used it. Just search in the box at the top of the page and you'll find lots of stuff about it and contact details.

You should use the aircon all the time. Apart from anything else, using it keeps the seals in good order - they dry out if it's not used. The lubrication oil in the gas is essential for keeping the seals working. Using aircon has no, or negligible effect on fuel consumption on these cars and it is designed to be on all the time. It doesn't affect the temperature in the car unless it's really hot outside (that is set by the climate control) and in winter you are warming up dry air rather than damp air. The most important function of aircon is drying the air in the car, not providing cooling.

And this: <quote> In the United States, for regulation purposes, government authorities allow cars of a given model year to be sold starting on January 1 of the previous calendar year. For example, this means that a 2017 model year vehicle can legally go on sale on January 1, 2016. <end quote> That has led to pretty much any vehicle bought during eg 2015 being referred to as a '2016 model' even if it technically isn't. If you bought a car this week, wouldn't you like to refer to it as a 2017, especially as your neighbour might be buying what is actually a '2017 model year' in a few months' time. So now it's common practice. It has always been dodgy to rely on year to identify a vehicle when buying parts, which is why dealers insist on a VIN number. But US and European VIN numbers are completely different and indeed UK/European VIN numbers are not commonly or easily available to parts sellers in the US. You just have to be careful and aware of the convention!

As long as they are the correct type number they'll be OK. You have to be careful with some parts - there can be differences - I bought some pins for the rear brakes and they had the wrong threads (too small). And be careful with years - US/Canada often use the year after us - eg 2010 model where we would say 2009. Quite soon now they'll be into '2017 model'!

It's just a cheap watch with a picture background. Note that it's not 3D. It's here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262202072390?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Still - for £12 ! Maybe a nice novelty ?

That seems to be normal - reversing uphill with cold transmission - probably nothing to worry about. Are there any other symptoms (ie in other circumstances)?

Hmm... well it's auto. And the traction control lights are illuminated. Perhaps a fault in the transmission/torque converter. Has the fluid been checked recently? Probably would benefit from being changed anyway at 240K+ Kms. Burnt transmission fluid can smell like burned milk. Don't see how it can be the fuel pump. Why did you think it wasn't the transmission? Faulty transmission will show the VSC and engine lights

Hmm..actually, having seen that I'll take back some of what I said about the cold air thing. I see now that the Typhoon has its own airbox, or more of a shield around the filter to protect it from engine heat. And I suppose the side trim more or less closes the top of the box. Still - an awful lot of money for some tunes and little or no discernible improvement in performance- even if it sounds quicker! :-)

It's a sort of snorkel type intake to the bottom of the airbox - ie before the filter. If you look at Eric's pic on page 1 above, it's the big plastic thing in front of the engine with an oval intake hole. (You can see the bolt and trim clip securing it). It leads to the bigger square hole in the airbox you can see in the airbox pictures. I'm not sure why Eric kept it - it won't be connected to anything now his airbox has presumably been removed to enable the Typhoon system to be fitted. (Or can I see the bottom half of the airbox still there, with the Typhoon filter sitting in mid air more or less in it?) Maybe he reckons it ducts some coolish air in to the general area of the filter. Maybe it does. Does that make any difference to performance? Maybe. Maybe not. (Cooler air is in theory a good thing - you get more mass of air than if it's hot so more fuel air mixture inducted into the engine). It's original purpose? To duct cooler air in than that otherwise available in the airbox area (totally negated as far as I can see by cutting the extra F-Sport hole) and to silence the intake - again negated by cutting the hole, but if noise is what you want..... PS - Lexus engineers would also no doubt claim some benefit from tuning the length of the inlet tract for optimising inlet air pressure waves - without going into the physics you can theoretically increase torque, at least at certain specific revs, by getting the inlet tract length, shape and volume just right. Again, the inlet duct obviously plays a part in that and the effect, small though it will be, will be negated by cutting the F-Sport hole.